Comics Review: "Silent Hill Downpour: Anne's Story" #1

Silent Hill is probably the worst holiday destination around. The weather is probably the biggest reason not to go; when it’s not foggy, it’s raining. REALLY raining. A downpour, you might say. Oh, also there’s monsters and stuff. Monsters and metaphors all over the place.

While all Silent Hill games have all the monsters and metaphors, it’s only Downpour that has the... Downpour. It’s also the most underrated game in the series, receiving a lot of harsh criticism from both fans and critics. The game follows a prisoner by the name of Murphy Pendleton, who arrives in Silent Hill after a prison bus crashes during a transfer. But we’re not here to talk about this guy! Screw this guy! Screw you, Murphy Pendleton!

We’re here to talk about “Silent Hill Downpour: Anne’s Story,” the new miniseries from IDW, which follows Anne Cunningham, another character featured in the game. Anne is a corrections officer, presiding over the transfer of several prisoners, including Murphy. Following the crash of the bus, the two are separated when she falls off a cliff, seemingly to her doom.

The comic picks up straight from this point, following Anne through her own personal Silent Hill, since each person has a different experience in the town. Anne’s version of Silent Hill isn’t really dissimilar to Murphy’s version, but it does have a few different aspects. One I quite enjoyed was the reference to the hole, featured in Silent Hill 4: The Room.

Holy crap!

Along the journey, Anne also encounters JP, another character featured in the game, if only briefly. It’s also nice to get a bit more of this guy, even if he is a bit depressing, with all his “Ugh, everyone’s dead and evil” talk. The book is actually written by Tom Waltz, one of the screenwriters of the game. While he demonstrated some very decent writing skills on the game, it’s here, on his own, where he really shines.

Cheer up, JP!

He crafts an intriguing story and does so without rehashing the game’s story too much. He keeps the focus on Anne’s story, giving much appreciated background on a character that never really seemed present enough before. But the story does require some knowledge of the game. Those who haven’t played it might find themselves a bit lost at times, but Waltz keeps things creepy an interesting enough so any horror comic fan should be able to appreciate the writing. Tristan “T-Rex” Jones’ art isn’t too shabby, either; it’s dark and creepy without being overly murky, which can be a problem in horror comics. Sure, horror should be dark and murky, but you need to be able to see what’s going on.

Poor Koonts.

Jones’ art is clear and every character looks distinct and recognisable, as if lifted from the game itself. Add to that the fact that his nickname is “T-Rex,” and you’ve got yourself and awesome artist. Horror comics also have to be coloured juuussssst right, to avoid them either looking TOO bleak or too nice. Michael Spicer balances this perfectly with his work on this book. It’s dark in all the right ways and shows off what needs to be shown off. Overall, it’s a classy book that any Silent Hill fan should be purchasing, whether they liked the game or not. It’s a solid, creepy Silent Hill tale.